2 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



4,781,027 acres, showing an excess of 91,827 acres over the 

 return for 1886. 



Concurrently with this enormous extension of grass there 

 has been an increase of oats, mangel, vetches, &c., and a diminu- 

 tion of barley, beans, peas, turnips, flax, and certain other crops. 

 But the variations in all these sink into insignificance beside the 

 tremendous falling off in wheat, which shows a decline of no less 

 than 1,183,219 acres. 



When the wet summers persistently followed each other, 

 the opinion was freely expressed that farmers were suffering 

 principally from the excessive rainfall, and that immediately hot 

 summers returned, those who had hastily laid down their land 

 would be equally hasty in ploughing it up again. But in the 

 South of England we have had hot seasons, accompanied Avith 

 drought sufficient to turn pastures brown and to prevent the 

 growth of much aftermath, yet no one thinks of ploughing the 

 sod. On the contrary, it is considered fortunate that expenses 

 are reduced by part of the land being freed from the heavy 

 outgoings for labour which render arable cultivation so unprofit- 

 able. 



Many causes have combined to necessitate the conversion of 

 arable land into meadow and pasture. Chief among these in- 

 fluences have been the low price of corn, the reduced capital of 

 agriculturists, and the increased cost of labour, and these forces 

 still prevail. 



However reluctant we may be to arrive at such a conclusion, 

 the fact is indisputable that foreign wheat can at present be 

 profitably delivered in this country at a lower price than it can 

 be grown here. Formerly the sale of corn was regarded as 

 the means of setting farmers' finances straight for the year. 

 Now the corn rotation is looked upon almost as a necessary 

 evil. 



The diminished capital which farmers hold renders it im- 

 possible for a very large number of them to tiU their land in an 

 efficient manner, and I am persuaded that in many cases the only 



